In the news story, reporter Mary Pollitiz tells the compelling story of one coder from the GTR cohort, Kingdom McGee, who was forced to drop out of Mississippi State University for health reasons.

“More than a year after he started in the academy’s first class in November 2017, McGee is now one of nine coders who graduated from GTR Coding Academy last year,” Pollitiz wrote. “He was one of six that found immediate employment. All six had starting salaries of at least $37,000.”

In their editorial, the Columbus Dispatch editorial board celebrates the graduation of these coders from the GTR cohort and calls on the educational system in Mississippi to take note of the idea that flexibility is an important strategy for addressing new jobs created by technology and turning them into career options for young people who might otherwise be headed for minimum-wage jobs.

“Until recently, the idea was to produce high school and college graduates and try to match what they had learned to the jobs available,” the Dispatch wrote. “Now we are starting with the job skills that are in demand and building educational programs to provide those skills.”

We thank Mary Pollitiz and the Columbus Dispatch editorial board for these fantastic articles and applaud the GTR cohort on their achievement. For more on the Mississippi Coding Academies, visit their website at https://www.mscoding.org/.